Organizational Change Part the First

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Organizational Change Part the First

• Steven E. Phelan
• July 2006

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Images of Managing

• Controlling
• Top-down view of management
• Fayols theory of management planning,
  organizing, commanding, coordinating and
  controlling.
• Shaping
• Participative style of management
• Improving the capabilities of people within the
  organization

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Images of Change Outcomes

• Intended Change
• Change is a result of planned action
• Partially Intended Change
• Change may need to be re-modified after it is
  initially implemented
• Unintended Change
• Forces beyond the control of the change manager

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Images of Change Managers
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Images of Change Managers

• Director
• Based on an image of management as control and of
  change outcomes as being achievable.
• Supported by the n-step models and contingency
  theory.

• Coach
• Relies upon building in the right set of values,
  skills and drills that are deemed to be the
  best ones that organizational members will be
  able to draw on in order to achieve desired
  organizational outcomes.
• Related to organizational development approaches.

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Images of Change Managers

• Navigator
• Control is still seen as at the heart of
  management action, although a variety of factors
  external to managers mean that while they may
  achieve some intended change outcomes, others
  will occur over which they have little control.
• Supported by the contextualist and processual
  theories of change.

• Interpreter
• The manager creates meaning for other
  organizational members, helping them to make
  sense of various organizational events and
  actions.
• Supported by the sense-making theory of
  organizational change

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Images of Change Managers

• Caretaker
• The change managers ability to control is
  severely impeded by a variety of internal and
  external forces beyond the scope of the manager.
  The caretaker is seen as shepherding their
  organizations along as best they can.
• Supported by life-cycle, population-ecology and
  institutional theories.

• Nurturer
• Even small changes may have a large impact on
  organizations and managers are not able to
  control the outcome of these changes. However,
  they may nurture their organizations,
  facilitating organizational qualities that enable
  positive self-organizing to occur.
• Related to chaos and Confucian/Taoist theories.

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Questions

• To what extent are you more comfortable with one
  or other of the six images?
• Why is this the case?
• What are the strengths and limitations of the
  images that you have identified as most relevant
  to you?
• What skills do you think are associated with each
  image?
• Are there areas of personal skill development
  that are needed for you to feel more comfortable
  in using other images?
• Have you ever been in an organization that was
  dominated by particular images?
• What barriers to alternative images existed in
  this organization? What strategies could overcome
  these barriers?

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Green Mountain Case

• An example of a problem that has been dis-solved
• Which frame does it fit?
• How does it look through another frame?

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Why change?

• Change is a risky activity
• Many organizational changes fail or do not
  realize their intended outcomes.
• This raises the question of why change is so
  prevalent?
• Pressure to change comes from
• External, environmental pressures
• Internal, organizational pressures

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External, environmental pressures
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External, environmental pressures
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Internal organizational pressures
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Internal organizational pressures
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Change Problems Five Frictions

• Distorted perceptions
• Hubris, cognitive biases etc.
• Dulled motivation
• Costs of change, cannibalization costs, cross
  subsidy comforts
• Failed creative response
• Speed or complexity or vision is lacking
• Political deadlocks
• Departmental politics creates blockages
• Action disconnects
• Leadership inaction
• Embedded routines are sticky
• Cultural values resist change

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Questions

• To what extent can you identify environmental
  pressures propelling your organization toward
  change?
• To what extent do you have influence over whether
  and how to change?
• Which of the reasons to avoid change have you
  experienced or seen?
• How easy is it to raise issues in your
  organization about the rationale for engaging in
  specific changes? Is there a dominant rationale?
  Why?
• What personal criteria might you adopt for
  initiating a specific change for the right
  reasons?

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Bob Galvin

• Questions
• What are the issues that worry Galvin in the
  spring of 1983?
• What grade would you give Galvins speech for its
  effectiveness in stimulating change?
• What would you have done differently?
• What would you recommend Galvin and the others do
  next?
• Is Galvins leadership philosophy and practice a
  model for Visionary Leadership

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Diagnostic tools

• The image of the change manager impacts the types
  of tools that may be used.
• The different images highlight the range of
  reasons why tools like these may be utilized
  they illustrate the numerous ways change can be
  interpreted.

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Advantages of using diagnostic tools1

• Simplifies a complex situation.
• Identifies priorities for attention.
• Highlights interconnectedness of various
  organizational properties (e.g., strategy and
  structure).
• Provides a common language with which to
  discuss organizational characteristics.
• Provides a guide to the sequence of actions to
  take in a change situation.

1 Source Burke (2002)
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Diagnostic models

• Six-box organizational model
• 7-S framework
• Star model
• Congruence model
• Burke-Litwin model
• Four frame model
• Diagnosis by image
• PESTEL framework

• Scenario analysis
• Gap analysis
• Elements of strategy
• Strategic inventory
• Newsflash exercise
• Cultural web
• Stakeholder analysis
• Forcefield analysis

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Questions

• Have you improved your knowledge of available
  diagnostic tools and models by reading this
  chapter?
• Do you feel that you could apply them when
  necessary?
• If you were to select two or three favourite
  tools/models, which would they be and why?
• To what extent do your images of change influence
  which diagnostic tools you are most comfortable
  using or see as most relevant?

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Charlotte Beers

• Questions
• Why was Ogilvy and Mather (O M) having problems
  when Beers took over? (i.e. Why did the
  organization need to change?)
• What was Beers trying to accomplish as CEO of O
  M?
• What were the biggest challenges that she faced?
  What was her change strategy? How would you
  assess her vision?
• What is your assessment of the process Beers and
  her team went through to create this vision?
• What are the key challenges facing Beers at the
  end of the case?
• What would you recommend she do next?
• What are the key lessons from this case with
  respect to managing change?